You have to admire Apple's guts. The company had a product that was one of the best in its class, the iPod nano, and it's just gone and replaced it with something entirely different: the, er, iPod nano.
It's a dumb decision to use the same name for the new version, because it invites all sorts of pointless comparisons between this and the old one. Let's get them out of the way now. No, this one doesn't play video. It doesn't have a camera or a clickwheel or a large screen. There are no games, contacts... you get the idea.
If you get too tied up in this sort of comparison, the sixth-generation iPod nano makes no sense at all, especially when you consider that the 8GB version, at £129, is only £60 cheaper than the infinitely more capable 8GB iPod touch. That's because, rather than trying to appeal to a broad range of users, this time, Apple is going after just one: people who want to listen to music while they exercise, but find the iPod shuffle too simple. Apple should just have called it the 'iPod run' and be done with it.
Such a square
The nano is unbelievably small and light. You can fix it to your clothes using the strong clip at the back. There are just three buttons -- power/screen lock, volume up and volume down. Everything else is controlled via the 1.5-inch, capacitive touchscreen, which is something of a mixed bag. The screen is bright and colourful, and text is clear.
It's easy to get to grips with the basics. The home screen has a block of four icons with clear labels such as podcasts, artists, radio and so on. To see more options, you swipe left or right to load more icons, just like you do on an iPhone or iPod touch. So far, so good, but after that it starts to get a little more complicated.
Here's what you get in the box. Quick, get rid of those nasty white earbuds!
Scrolling through artists or songs is relatively fiddly, as only four bands, songs or whatever are shown on the screen at once. Although the nano helps by jumping quickly to a letter, if you have 50 bands starting with the letter M, it's not particularly easy to find what you're looking for.
Swish interface
Once you're over that, there are various gestures to learn. Swiping right takes you back one screen (eventually to the home screen), twisting with two fingers rotates the display and tapping and swiping in the radio and music menus bring up extra features such as live pause. There's no way you would be able to find out most of those without reading an online manual though, as on-screen help is limited at best. It's the first time we've had to break out the documentation when reviewing an iPod, which isn't a great sign.
Music quality is good, although as always, we'd recommend replacing the headphones. Album art looks pretty cool on the screen, although if you clip the nano somewhere easily visible to others, you might have to be careful with your music choice if you're worried about being outed as a Showaddywaddy fan.
The built-in FM radio is pretty reasonable for such a small player, if a little difficult to get to grips with initially. To tune in, you press the arrows on the screen to find the next strongest signal, or you can manually tune to a frequency by swiping a bar at the bottom of the screen. If you're not sure what you're after, the nano picks the strongest stations in your area, although it only displays the frequencies rather than station names. Once you're listening to a station, it'll display the name if the signal is good enough.
One cool feature is the ability to pause a radio station for up to 15 minutes and skip forwards and backwards through the recording. How an average user is supposed to find the menu to do that, we're not sure, but it's worth hunting down.
On the trot
There's a built-in pedometer which measures the number of steps you take and uploads the results to nikeplus.com when you next sync the nano with iTunes. It also supports the Nike+ iPod Sport Kit (iTunes link), but the sensor for that is nearly as large as the nano itself, so we're not sure it's that useful -- really Apple should have built the sensor in. Incidentally, iTunes remains, as always, a hateful, teeth-grindingly slow piece of software.
You can copy your photos to show off, although as the nano has a smaller screen than many digital cameras, we're not sure why you'd want to. Apple was very proud of the clock on the nano at the launch we attended, and can confirm that it is, indeed, a clock. You could make your own wrist-strap and wear the nano as a proper watch if you're mad, or buy a strap accessory if you're a frightening Apple fanatic.
With such a lovely clock, it would be a shame not to strap it to your wrist.
Battery life is good at 24 hours of audio, which is nine more hours than you get from the shuffle, according to Apple's figures.
Verdict
Ultimately the sixth-generation nano, or iPod run, is a great product for a very specific niche -- those who want more control over their MP3 player in the gym, or those who just want something new to flash about when exercising. For everyone else, it's too expensive for what it is. Go for either the iPod shuffle or touch.
Edited by Nick Hide
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lkon 2 April 2012
Good: The size, if you're at the gym/jogging etc.
Bad: The poor design with faulty parts
Comment: I have already had two of the iPod Nano 6th Gen. The first one I bought developed a fault within 1 month - the Sleep/Wake button gets stuck and renders the device practically unusable. The second was a replacement from Apple, which developed the exact same fault after about 12 months of use. Searching online I counted at least another 100 cases (only on Apple Support Forum) with the same issue. When the iPod Nano 6th Gen is out of warranty, Apple offers a replacement for £65 - I wouldn't risk paying for a product that is prone to develop faults. As the 'Genius' at the Apple Store certified, my iPod Nano was in perfect condition - after a year of use it doesn't have a single scratch because I invested (even more money) in a high quality case and screen protection.
I would strongly discourage anyone from buying one of these devices. I believe the product violates the UK Sale of Goods Act 1979 , as this defines that satisfactory quality also means that products must last a reasonable time. 1 month and 12 months for an mp3 player that costs £120 - now do you think this is reasonable time?
Bottom line: save your money, avoid the Apple hype and get a different brand. I'm now using my Creative Zen Nano - it's 8 years old and still going like new!
sonymad 20 March 2012
Good: nice and small the clip touchscreen pedometer
Bad: no fm radio no video camera how did anyone think the last nano was two big
Comment: Apple’s pedigree in the MP3 market is unsurpassed. Its iPods have sold in the millions over the years and whether or not you agree with its approach to selling music and synchronisation, there’s simply no arguing over the quality of its hardware. Even by its lofty standards, however, the latest iPod nano makes a bold statement.
Gone is the click wheel of old and gone is the tall, thin profile, to be replaced with an all-touchscreen interface. It’s less than half the size of the previous nano, measuring an eminently misplaceable 40.9 x 8.8 x 37.5mm (WDH) and weighing a barely noticeable 21.1g. In fact, the design – with its aluminium casing and large clip – is closer to the 2008 Shuffle than its predecessor. Clip it to your lapel, belt or inside pocket and you won’t know it’s there.
Our first reaction, though, was one of wonder mixed with scepticism. Surely that tiny 1.54in would be too small to work as a touch interface? How on earth can you possibly navigate hundreds of tracks on a screen barely bigger than a postage stamp? It turns out, however, that our fears were unfounded.
The touchscreen technology is, as with the iPhone 4 and iPod touch, capacitive, so the merest brush of a finger is all that’s needed to activate the onscreen buttons and options. But it’s the way the nano’s designers have managed to squeeze an iOS-style interface into such tight confines that really takes the breath away.
The first thing that confronts you after powering on the device are four square buttons, arranged in time-honoured iOS style. They’re just the right size for finger or thumb tapping, and you just swipe your finger to the left or the right to get to more options. Once you’re into track, song, album or artist views, even long lists are dispatched with effortless smoothness. An alphabetical index running down the right-hand side of listings is just as easy to operate, allowing thousands of items to be navigated in a matter of seconds.
It isn’t all touch, however, and that’s a good thing. Physical volume controls sit on the top edge, so you’re never left fishing around in menus when browsing listings, and next to these is a power button, which turns the screen on and off. After a couple of minutes, operating the nano became second nature. In fact, we found it quicker to navigate through our music collection on this tiny touchscreen than with the old-style click wheel.
Combine that with very good sound quality – we had no complaints whether listening through a pair of over-the-ear V-Moda CrossFade LPs or some in-ear canal Ultimate Ears 700s – and a selection of swanky extras, including a pedometer, Nike+ iPod support and an FM radio you can pause, and you have a compact MP3 player of rare polish and pedigree.
It’s a remarkable achievement, but it isn’t without its problems, and our first arose when trying to clip the player to clothing. If you forget to turn the screen off, it’s very easy to skip forward a track or jump to another song entirely by touching the edge of the screen. Neither are we convinced that multitouch is a great idea on this tiny screen. It’s limited in its scope – all you can do with it is change the screen orientation – and with barely enough room for two fingers side by side on the display, it’s more than a little fiddly.
The omission of a proper lock switch is problematic: it’s too easy to click the screen on/off button by accident. It’s also disappointing that video playback has been removed entirely from the features list, especially as the price is £129 for the 8GB player and £159 for the 16GB version. Finally, although there’s an accelerometer, it can’t be used to rotate the screen automatically.
It would be remiss of us to gloss over the new nano’s faults, and we can’t honestly say it’s worth upgrading from the previous models at these prices. For all that, however, we have a big soft spot for the new nano. It’s a gorgeous thing to have and behold, and for anyone who loves their technology bling it will prove absolutely irresistible.
Read more: Apple iPod nano (6th gen, 8GB) review | Media Players | Reviews | PC Pro http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/media-players/361060/apple-ipod-nano-6th-gen-8gb#ixzz1pdh4dSgU
thawstone 4 March 2012
Good: Small and light
Bad: Wireless and vehical use destroys battery permanantly
Comment: I killed two of these new nanos (was able to exchange them) either when plugging into my factory Mazda ipod system or trying to use with my wireless JBird earphones. It's is if the battery completely shorts out. Neither nano could be revived. I purchased a 3rd gen nano from Ebay and it works fine in any application just like my old one that finally died after many years of use. The new nano battery seems to be capable of handling wired earphones only.
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